Students preparing to choose college courses for the first time are usually faced with an overwhelming number of options. It can be quite intimidating for a new student, especially when classes cost $46 per unit in addition to student fees. New students don’t yet have experience with any specific teacher, so this is where websites like ratemyprofessor come in handy because curious students can anticipate what a teacher is like and how they handle the class.

The website was originally known as TeacherRatings.com in 1999, but it was later converted into the name it has today in 2001. The website currently has over 8,000 schools in its listings, along with 1.7 million teachers and 19 million ratings worldwide.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Cabrillo College offers quaint classes with eccentric teachers trying to engage students in a creative manner, so it only makes sense to visit and explore some of Cabrillo’s highest and lowest-rated teachers at the Aptos Campus.

Starting off with one of the highest-rated professors on the website is political science professor Nick Rowell, who has 116 ratings and a 100% rating of students who would take the class again. Rowell has been teaching at Cabrillo for ten years, and his favorite classes to teach are Intro to U.S. Government

and Political Science 3, which focuses on international relations.

“My classes are like my children, and it’s hard to pick one (I like best),” he said. “I truly love teaching those classes because often it’s students who are thinking and learning about politics for the first time, and that makes it a special environment where we can explore new things together.”

Perhaps this is where Rowell’s high rating comes from a passion and love of teaching that started back when he was in college. While he is aware of his glowing reviews of positivity that shines like a rising sun, all he hopes to read is what students learned and if they felt comfortable and supported in his class.

This sentiment is shared by others like Micheal Pebworth, a history professor at Cabrillo since 2001, who also values student feedback.

“I’ll be honest, what would I want my reviews on ratemyprofessor to say? That this class is time-consuming, but it’s a lot of fun and you’ll learn a ton of stuff,” Pebworth said.

Currently, Pebworth has been reviewed 157 times and holds a 5/5 rating, along with a 65% would take the class again rating, which is average compared to other professors like Rick Nolthenius, an astronomy professor, whose ratings are lower.

Nolthenius has been reviewed 107 times, with 41 reviews regarding him as “awful.” He currently holds a 2.3/5 and a 36% would take the class again rating, making him one of the lowest-rated professors for Cabrillo on the website.

When asked about his rating, he said that he was already aware of them since he was initially told by one of his students about what people had to say.

“They said you just got a bunch of flamers and people who don’t like you for whatever reason, and they’ll just get on there and try to wreck and destroy you,” he said.

Most professors care very little about what their students think of them, and they don’t let negative reviews stop them. However, Pebworth says he doesn’t want to be regarded as an “incompetent ogre who should be fired,” and rightly so.

Nolthenius, on the other hand, could care less.

“So why subject myself? I can’t change whatever it is they write. All I can do is do my best to teach and hope they like it, and if they don’t like my class, they can always take someone else’s,” he said.

There was one comment each from the three professors, and it boiled down to don’t let reviews make your mind. Find out for yourself and make your own opinion on their teaching style.

“Rate my professor is very skewed. You can get a sense of people’s extreme experiences, but it doesn’t give you the tools or the data you would need to know what the typical student experience is,” Rowell said.

This Story was originally published by Good Times in their Dilated Pupils magazine.